The United States Patent and Trademark Office is a wonderful institution. No, really. Where else can you receive a patent for a particular method of swinging on a playground swing? Of course, not all patents fall into that category. Many are useful, and have the potential to solve problems that have plagued humankind since... well, since the advent of live broadcasting in this case.
A recently unearthed patent application originally filed in October 2004 by Microsoft could make television and radio broadcasters very happy. In it, Microsoft describes the use of an "automatic censoring filter" that can censor undesirable speech in real-time (or batch mode, for Chris Rock). Here's how it works:
The automatic censoring filter employs a lattice comprising either phonemes and/or words derived from phonemes for comparison against corresponding phonemes or words included in undesired speech data. If the probability that a phoneme or word in the input audio data stream matches a corresponding phoneme or word in the undesired speech data is greater than a probability threshold, the input audio data stream is altered so that the undesired word or a phrase comprising a plurality of such words is unintelligible or inaudible.
Just think of itprestigious live telecasts such as the Oscars and Grammys could be shown truly live, and not on a seven-second delay. Producers wouldn't need to have their fingers hovering nervously above the big red button to temporarily silence an impassioned rock star or movie star who drops a particularly expressive f-bomb.
Currently, the Federal Communications Commission enforces indecency laws between the hours of 6:00am and 10:00pm, making the airing of a bleep, bleep, or even a bleep bleep a potentially expensive proposition for broadcasters. If the software described in Microsoft's patent application works as advertised, it could completely alleviate the problem (such as it is), forcing groups like the Parents Television Council to find something else to do.
A more immediate application would be on a service such as Xbox Live. As any veteran of Xbox Live will attest, one of the experience-enhancing aspects of the live gaming experience is the... er, soundtrack available to those with Xbox Live headsets. An automatic censor could easily filter out all those naughty words for sensitive ears. That sounds like an interesting idea, and one I might actually take advantage of. While I'm no shrinking violet, playing Burnout: Revenge with a bunch of 14-year-olds who think bleep, bleep, and bleep should be sprinkled liberally throughout every utterance can be tedious.